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Sunday, May 4th, from Noon - 3:00 PM

Written by Mike Kraeuter

This Featured FISH started her attack on the record boards back during the Reindeer MINI Meet and has been lowering those times all season long. She qualified for the 50 free and 50 fly in the PVS 14 & Under Junior Olympic Championships as a 8 year old Mini FISH. Isabella Rongione loves to swim fast and work hard; it is her dedication and compassion for the sport that has allowed her to achieve incredible results. However, this isn't her most favorite thing about swimming, keep reading so you can find out...

written by Alec Contag

STATE Grand Prix "BEAST!!!" Was probably the one word that was most frequently uttered by all those in attendance of the Ohio State Grand Prix, in the marvelous McCorkle aquatics pavilion in Columbus, Ohio. The word, as our fabulous Team Manager soon learned, is a term in use exclusively by the Awesome Fish as a form of encouragement, quality, approval, and even endearment: a word quite fitting to describe the adventure that was Ohio State.

After getting his first Olympic Trials cut on Saturday evening in the 400 m  Free with a time of 3:59.71, Matthew struck again only 17 hours later in the 1500 m Free.  His time of 15:50.21 left no room for doubt, as opposed to his 400 m Free time on Saturday night.

When we left the pool on Saturday evening, after looking at his time on the scoreboard, we all believed Matthew had swum a 4:00.15 in the 400 m Free, missing his Trials cut by sixteen hundredths of a second.  It was only an hour later, after Coach Ray received a text message from his wife Joanne congratulating Matthew for swimming so well that we realized he might have swum faster.  Kate used her new toy, her red Blackberry, to research the official results and then announced to the entire restaurant that Matthew had made his first Trials cut.  Hardly anyone in the restaurant knew what was going on when the congratulating and clapping started, but the enthusiasm and joy was shared by all.

Congratulations Matthew and Coach Ray! Onward to Omaha! Read on for best times...

1st Place at Spring Champs

A spectacular effort was put forward at the Spring Championship meet this past weekend at the Fairland Aquatic Center. As a team, we scored 1916 points placing first among 13 teams. 371 best times where achieved at the meet, which comes out to about 75% of the swims being best times.

Our high point winners by age group are: 9-10 boys - Michael Eshleman (3) 9-10 girls - Jessie Monroe (3) 11-12 boys - Conor McBride (1) 11-12 girls - Elizabeth Longosz (1) 13 & Over boys - Ryan Williams (1) 13 & Over girls - Becca Yost (2)

The following swimmers swam 6 or more best times: Erin Callahan, Annie and Martha Carro, Hazel Cimino, Shelley Collins, Alexandra Cramer, Wesley and Zachary Diener, Michael Eshleman, Tom Fenninger, Jason Fu, Hyunwoo and Minji Koo, Elizabeth Longosz, Michelle Lovering, Kaylyn Macaluso, Conor McBride, Megan McCreary, Jessie Monroe, Marilisa Morales, Theresa Neubig, Alex Pennington, Erica Shipley, Jessie Smith, Emma Tierney, Tara Ulepic, Nathan Williams, Becca Yost, and Kyle Zora...CONGRATULATIONS!!

We cheered loudly and swam fast achieving many first place finishes in individual events as well as in 9 relays. We all had a great meet. We even learned a bit about nutrition and how eating junk food can't supply you with the energy you need to compete at your highest level, especially, when you are swimming four or more events during one session. Coach Grady brought in oranges and power bars on the second day which helped us keep our energy up, so we could all keep swimming FAST and having FUN...so remember that at your next meet when packing your food.

Now it is onto the long course season, I hope everyone is looking forward to the LC Derby!!

Age Group will have practice tomorrow, Saturday, March 22nd at 6:00 to 7:00 PM and 7:00 to 8:00 PM.  There was a typo in the schedule that was handed out.  These are the correct practice times.

Kate Ziegler appears in the April edition of Vogue Magazine. She looks stunning!

Michael Flach - 4 Junior National cuts in 4 days !

Matthew Benecki - 2 Senior National cuts; Olympic Trials next?

Kate Ziegler - 4 gold medals in 4 days; women's high point award winner!

Take your pick for the storyline for Sectionals. Any way you look at it, the FISH swam spectacularly at Sectionals.

Thanks to contributions from Michael Flach and Matthew Benecki, highlighted above, along with Adam Pennington, the FISH placed 4th on the Men's side.

For more detailed summaries, check the daily recaps posted previously; for more detailed results, check out the times.

Onward to Ohio State!

Sectionals ended last night and culminated in the FISH winning 291 points overall without swimming any relays.Kate Ziegler won the Womens Individual High Point award and Michael Flach secured the2nd place in the Mens Individual High Point category. Congratulations!

The past three days at Sectionals have been an incredible experience for the Awesome FISH. After Saturday night's finals the FISH team had scored a total of 217 points which secured us the 4th place overall. There were a lot of best times and some incredible highlights that are worth mentioning.